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Senior Yemeni intelligence officer shot dead in capital

25 September 2012 19:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A senior Yemeni intelligence officer has been shot dead in the capital, Sanaâ€™a, the latest in a series of assassinations targeting high-ranking officers and politicians, APA reports quoting Press TV.

General Abdullah al-Ashwal, a colonel in the Political Security Office, the domestic intelligence service, was shot dead by masked gunmen late on Monday as he was leaving a mosque in the Safiya district of the capital.

According to security sources, initial investigation indicates that al-Qaeda was behind the killing.

He was the fourth senior Yemeni officer to be assassinated in just over a month.

Colonel Yahya Saleh al-Khalidi, director of the office of the head of Duleimi air base in Sana’a, was shot dead by gunmen as he left his house on September 6 while Colonel Yahya al-Munsif, senior officer in customs security, was shot dead two days earlier near his workplace.

Gunmen have also killed Colonel Yahya Badi in the Intelligence Political Security apparatus last month in northeast Sana’a, AFP reported.

On September 11, Yemeni Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed was seriously injured in a car bomb attack targeting his motorcade in the heart of the capital. At least 12 people, among them seven bodyguards of the defense minister, were killed in the attack.